Cook Time

Do you make your own mashed potatoes or used boxed kind?

Mashed potatoes are one of the most eaten and underappreciated side dishes to almost any dinner plate.

As the years go by, it seems, more and more, I see the mashed potato mix in a bag or a box on the self at the store. You just add hot water and a nob of butter and there you have “mashed potatoes”. (If you’re luck there might be a box with “roasted garlic potatoes”.)

These convenient boxed or bagged taters might seem like a time saver but in the end they are more expensive (by volume) and have more additives and preservatives then you might know than real potatoes.

Also, there is a really simple way of making mashed potatoes using (heaven forbid) those real potatoes in the produce section of the store.

It can take as little as 15 minutes to make you own fresh mashed potatoes and the taste is phenomenal and, although there is a certain amount of starch in potatoes, the skins are packed with nutrients.

Homemade mashed potatoes are delicious and they can be healthier than any bagged mashed potato mix.

I like red potatoes more than Idaho, or russet potatoes. One reason is because they very versatile (you can boil them and cut them and they will maintain their shape if you want to use them in a potato salad) and most importantly because I really enjoy the taste.

Also, when I make mashed potatoes, I like to keep the skins on and mix them into the mash. You keep the nutrients from the skins and it adds to the texture of the potatoes.

Unsalted butter and heavy cream is the preference in my mash potatoes, because the unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in your food, and the cream adds more smoothness to the potatoes (you can use plain milk if you don’t have any cream, but they might taste a little “drier”, because of the lack of fat from the cream.

It is easy to make the perfect mashed potatoes at home using real potatoes within just a few minutes anytime you wish.

Kitchenware

1 potato masher

1 colander

1 large cooking pot

1 cutting knife

1 vegetable scruber, optional

Boiling the Potatoes | Source

Cream, butter and salt and pepper | Source

Directions

1. Wash all the potatoes. Make sure to remove any dirt. Use a vegetable scrubber if needed, but be careful, the skin is thin on red potatoes and can easy be scrapped off. Also, cut off (or cut out) any deep browned parts or "eyes", so that you just have nice clean potatoes.

2. Cut the potatoes into small pieces. You can quarter them if you like or even cut each one into one-inch pieces; remember that the smaller the potato piece is, the faster it will cook.

3. Use a large cooking part (4 quarts is good) and fill it about half way with water.

4. You can add the potatoes right away or wait until the water is boiling (potatoes can start oxidizing, or “browning”, if cut and left open to the air; placing them in cold water stops this from happening). Also, some people salt the water, but it is not needed or required, it is just a preference. If you are watching your salt intake, it is a good idea to pass on salting the water.

5. Once you’ve placed the potato pieces into the water and the pot is boiling, it should take roughly 15 minutes (check the doneness of the potatoes occasionally, if a fork or knife can easily be inserted into the potatoes and easily come out, known as “fork tender”, they are done).

6. Once the potatoes are “fork tender”, drain the potatoes in a colander (over the sink) and turn the heat off on the stove top burner.

7. Return the pot to the stove top and add the stick of butter. The remaining heat from the pot and the burner will help melt the butter faster.

8. Once the potatoes are completely drained, return them to the pot.

9. Start mashing the potatoes with a potato masher, start adding the cream a little at a time to get to the consistency that you wish (for me it is about a ½ cup of cream along with the stick of butter for the 5 pound bag that get the best results).

10. Add Cracked Black Pepper and Salt to taste. (You can even add roasted garlic if you desire.

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